Originally Posted by
chumley
EJ,
You can point all you want toward individual bad breaks for the Padres in the last few weeks, but if you follow the Padres, you also know that they had a number of heroic comeback wins over the last few months, and played very well down the stretch aside from the last 2 vs. Milwaukee & the sweep at home at the hands of the Rockies.
What can I say about Hoffman getting lit up in the 13th of the play-in game ... the balls were ripped, every one of them, and the final call at the plate does not equate to a victory being stolen from the Padres. Who knows what would have happened later in the inning or game, but it's silly to insist the Padres were in any way robbed of a win in that game.
The Rockies had a couple of very tough injuries to starting pitching in the second half ... perhaps because they didn't happen in the last 2 weeks you choose to feel sorry for the poor Padres vis a vis the Rockies.
Hey, bottom-line is the Rockies are in, and they have as good a chance as anyone to win everything. Nothing at all flukey about their domination over the Phillies, in Philadelphia, in the first 2 games.
Speaking of the Phillies, do they get a free pass on the fluke-o-meter in consideration of the Mets collapse? Remember, the Phillies record was no better than that of the Rockies coming into this.
Give a little credit where credit is due. Sixteen out of seventeen is nothing short of awesome when considering the meaning each and every one of those games has had to their chances to even get this chance.
Like all teams, the Rockies had plenty of poor stretches during the season, and nobody (not me, at least) is saying they're invincible.
But you can't make a stronger case for any single team of the eight remaining, especially when we're talking about short series like these.